Agitating device.



v No. 815,272. I PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906.

W. B. DEVEREUX.

AGITATING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED MAB.15. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES-z 7 L n No. 815,272 PATENTED MAR. 1a, 1906.

W. B. DEVEREUX.

j .AGITATING DEVICE. A PPLIOAT ION FILED MABJB. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES:

, K l-NVENTOR fi y To a it may concern: a Y

\ i No. 815,272.

"UNITED. STATES" PATENT, OFFICE. 4

,WALTER DEVEREUX, OF GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO.

" -AG'ITATING' DEVICE. J

it known that I, WALTER B. DEVEREUX,

,a citizen of the United States,and a resident of" Glenwood S rings,county of Garfield,

State of Colora 0, have invented a new and useful Improvement inAgitating Devices, of

I which the-following isa specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in agitatingdevices which areintended to keep hquids or liquids with solid particles in agit'ation inprocesses such as the cyanidation of gold and silver ores, leaching ofores, and other similar metallurgical processes; and the ob- I or liuids with solid ject of my invention is to a-iford a simple mechanicaldevice requiring a small amount of power for its operation.

. In earlier Letters Patent I have described agitating devices whichconsist of a propeller ora propeller-pump or othermechanical equiva entof the ordinary marine propeller rotating within a tank in which liquidsarticles as are to be a itate at such a deptli that the solid artic esafter settling will not interfere with t e starting ofthe ropeller, incombination with av series of ra 'al diaphra ms placed vertically withinthe tank, refera ly as in such Letters Patentdescribe so constructedthat the 1iuids or li uids with solid particles con tamed therein willpass freely through, around,'and under them, the purpose of whichdialphragm is to prevent rotation of the mate- 1 similar to the singlepropeller de'scn ria in the tank being agitated without sub-v dividingthe tank into separate or independ-; ent compartments and to cause thepropeller,

in cjombmation with suchdialphragnii, to act a;

ution ownwar to employ larger tanks without unduly increasing the sizeof the pro ellers, which would necessarily result'from t e constructionde scribed m the said Letters Patent, I have found that equallyeflicient and satisfactory results can be produced and the constructionstill further-simplified by replacing the radial diaphra ms whlch aredescribed in the said Letters atent by a plurality of 'ropellers eherein, but of relatively, smaller dimensions.

The invention willbebest understood by reference to the accompan 'ng twosheets of 4 drawings,- forming a parto this specification, inwhic Figurel is a vcrtical section of the appara- .sametime.

4 Patented March 13,19oe.

tus employed. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the tank.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughi out both views.

. In both of the sheets of drawings, Arepresents the tank, which may beof any convenient shape.

B represents the inlet-pipe, which is ordinarily. a trough, as shown, orin case the tank is closed atthe top a pipe provided Withsuitablecut-off valve. This is placed in any convenient position with respect tothe tank and through which the material to be agitated is insertedtherein.

C. is a manhole in the bottom of the tank through which the finaldischarge of the tank takes place when the operation is terminated.

P, the upper end ofwhich is open and is supported by a'i float J whilethe liquidis being drawn off or decanted, which device is tech nicallyknown as a Ffioating siphon, and the pipe P is attached to thefioat J bymeans of the coupling K shown in the views. Instead of connecting thepipe D with the floating siphon for the purpose of drawing off theliqul-d portions intermittently the 1pe D may be connected with one ormore 'ng devlces' of suitable form, placed at oneor more convenientpoints within the tank. v

i E, E,jand E represent a seriesoi' vertical shafts extending down intothe tank, asshown, each of which carries on its lower end a propeller F,F, and F of the ordinary form used in modern marine practice. Thesepro-'ellers are each turned in such a way as to 95 orce the material downwardagainst the bottom of the tank. The shafts rotate 1n bearings G,attached to a beam T, which asses across the top of the tank. Each sha tcar ries at itsupper extremity between'the bearings G G a pulley H.These pulleys are so connected by suitable belts or rope drivers thatall three of the shafts will'.rotate at the Any number of shafts andpro-' pellers may be employed; but in practicetwo or three will be foundmost convenient. The method of driving the shafts and the "devices :forcontrollingtheir movements and reducing the friction thereof'form nopart of the-invention, but may be varied f-rbm time to time acrod IIC

cordin to the purpose for which the device is emp oyed. In practice thesize of the propeller will vary according to the size of the tank, andthey may all rotatein the. same horizontal plane or in different-planes,as may be found most convenient.

The method of operation is asfollows: The material to be agitated isintroduced into the tank and the propellers are set in motion; As thetank is not divided into separate compartments, the first effect of therevolution of the propellers is to draw the liquid from above 1 andforce it down a ainst the bottom of the solid particles from the bottomof the tank and forms a homogeneous mixture of liquid and solid materialthrough every part of the tank, which condition continues as long as thepropellers are kept in operation. After \the material has been agitateda sufficient time the propellers are stopped, and the clear solution canthen be drawn off from the top through'the floating siphon as soon asthe solid materialhassettled sufliciently to leave a layer of clearliquid at the top.

- I claim as my mventiona 1. The combination in a metallur icalaparatus, of a tank and a plurality o ropelers arran ed 'to rotate onvertical siiafts a substantia distance above the bottom thereof andabove the level to which the solid material of the charge will settlewhen the propellers are at rest.

2. The combination in a metallurgical a paratus, of a tank; means fordecanting t 1e iquid contents thereof; and a plurality of propellerseach arranged to rotate on a vertical shaft within the tank asubstantial distance above the bottom thereof and above the level towhich'the solidv material of the charge will settle when the propelleris at rest. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myinvention Ihave signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 14th day ofMarch,

- WALTER 'Bl DEVEREUX. Witnesses: FRANK LYMAN,

A. M. Gow.

